River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1887-11-17

country the leading luxuries are in de-
mand for this day and this combined
with the family reunions which univer-
sally occur on that day, make it sea-
son of delight Savory odors are upon
the air for DAYS beforehand and the
humble pantry becomes a laboratory
whence shall issue ON Thanksgiving
the most wonderful compounds and
elixirs- The first turkey OF the season
usually yields up his life on this oc-
casiOn; cranberries CLEAN redly through
the cut glass, and the green aud come
~ celery rears its appetizing head
high above the more lowly yiands-
soon, alas. to be brought low ou a
level with the least of them. Around.
the mahogany decked with whitest
linen and shining with the best dishes
sit the hungry, happy throng repre-
senting the seven ages of man, pos
sibly to the exclusion of the 'meroling
and luking' babe whose Thanksgiving
cooling comes contentedly from an adj
joining room. The Youngsters wriggle
impatiently through the long grace
and most provoking slowness assails
the carving-knife which i'm the hands
of the patriarch at the head Of the
table is soon making inroads into the
brown and odorous fowl. Then per-
haps at the end of the feast there is 4
plum pudding. brave with goodies and
blazing gloriously as it is borne in by
tine exultant cook. Or if not a pud-
ding, there are wondrous mince pies
filled with the wealth of the storehouse
and of a nature to make one dream Of
his remotest ancestors.
There are fruits and preserves, iellies
and creams. making the Thanksgiving
table an exponent of the fruits of the
earth. But it is IN Yankeedom that
this feast receives its browning touch.
No one denies the Yanke. housewife.
her pre-eminence in the art of cookery.
With her herbs. her spices. heressences
and flavOrs, with her precious recipes
handed down from grandmother
distinguished for faculty. this queen
Of the kitchen prepares feast. myster-
ious and delicious. Conspicuous among
its dainties is the plebian pumpkin.
Who has not heard of the New England
pumpkin pie? A combination of de-
licious tastes and Odors which no man
can analyze and very few women save
those who know the arcana of the
kitchen. The pumpkin pie, or ''pun-
kin" as it is so much easier to say
is a harvest poem in itself
Its deep golden circlet surrounded
by a setting delicate and iaky. the
aroma floating upward from its APP
petizing bosom, it g a concentration
and condensation of all the joys of
harvest-time. Indeed so potent has
been its effect upon man that even
poets have not disdaincd to invoke the
muse in its behalf. The HOosier Bard,
James Whitcomb Riley. has written
one of his most elegant poems, inspired
by the charm of that season in which
the pumpkin plays such conspicuous
part.
" When the frost is on the pumpkin and the
folders in the shock,
And you hear the kyouck and gobble Of the
slruttin turkey-cock,
And the clackin' Of the guineys and the eluekin
OF the hens,
And the rooster hallyyOOyer as he tiptOos on
the fence;
o its then's the times a Teller is a-feelin' at his
best
With the risin' sun to greet him from night
of peaceful rest
As he leaves the house bare headed and goes
out 10 feed the stock,
When the frost is on the pumpkin and the
folders in the shock"
No poet has felt or depicted more
truthfully the charms of the Thanks
giving seasoa and harvest time than
has Whittier. When he writes of this
season, his pen seems dipped in au-
tumn glory. His poem of the huskers
is one of the most charming pictures
Of harvest merriment that has been
drawn:
Beneath. the turnip lay concealed
In many a verdi ut fold
And glistened in the santing light
Tue pumpkins sphere OF gold.
a gift Of pumpkin pie from a lady
friend once called out some of Mr.
Nhittier's prettiest and most graceful
touches. It's acknowledgement is
couched in a little poem called the
Pumpkin, in which the poet apostro-
phizes beautifully this humble fruit Of
the VINE:
"Ah, on Thanksgiving Day, when from Eass
and from West
From North and from South come the pill
grim and guest,
When the gray haired New Highlander sees
rOun ms board
The old broken links OF affection restored,
When the care-wearied man seeks his mother
once more,
And the worn matron smiles where the girl
smiled before,
What moistens the lip and what bFigh:ens the
eye,
What calls back the past like the rich pump
kin pieg
Oh, fruit loved o; boyhood the old days recall
ing,
When wood grapes were purpling and brown
nuts we're falling.
When wild ugly faces we carved in its skin,
Glaring out through the dark with a candle
within,
When we laughed round tnc corn-heap, our
hearts all in tune,
Our chair broad punpkin, our lantern the
moon.
Telling tales OF the fairy who Travelled like.
steam,
In pumpziu-shen coach with two rats for
team
The poet concludes this "Reminiscences
of tho pumpkin by heartfelt thanks:
% Then thanks for thy present, none sweeter
nor better
Fer smoked from an oven OF circlcd plat
ter
Finally he concludes with wish;
Is That the days Of thy lot may be heightened
below,
And the fame Of thy worth like the pumpkin
vine grow.
And thy life be as sweet, and its last sunset
sky,
Golden-iinted and fair as thy own pumllin-
pie.
SARAH 5. PRATT
THE LAW OF KINDNESS.
A Charm That Springs from the Eeart
and l. Executed by the Hands.
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